Infy wants employees to generate more revenue

Infosys wants the revenue generated by each employee to go up by 2016, on the back of new initiatives around big data, design thinking and a renewed push on automation.

Revenue per employee at Infosys currently stands at around $50,000, the highest in the industry. “If this number does not go up in two years, then we will have a problem,” Vishal Sikka, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, told delegates at the ‘Axis Capital Annual Conference’ via a webcast.

Non-linear revenue growth, which refers to an increase in overall sales without a proportional addition to the headcount, has been the holy grail of the Indian IT industry.

“Use of re-usable components, software automation and artificial intelligence are needed to drive non-linear growth in client engagements. We need to amplify our people assets with better tooling and automation,” said Sikka.

The scope to increase non-linear revenue is getting wider through opportunities around ‘big data’, which refers to large datasets that can reveal patterns and trends when computationally analysed.

For instance, Infosys says it is seeing strong demand for a new program that allows manufacturing companies to predict and plan for software breakdowns. “Recently, we worked with a company which has around 150,000 teller machines in the US. At any time, about 100 of them are down. We now have predictive analysis capabilities that can direct maintenance crews to where the next breakdown could probably happen,” said Sikka.

Infosys has already bagged 40 projects “around big data and predictive analyses” in the last two months, Sikka added.

Infosys is able to provide this service by developing a new data processing platform built on open source technology. The company has also partnered with Stanford’s Institute for Computation and Mathematical Engineering for data scientists who can work with Infosys’ teams.

Sikka is also trying to bring about a cultural shift at Infosys by inculcating ‘design thinking’. He wants a problem-solving approach in which clients are an integral part of the entire product/services lifecycle.

“Essentially, our multi-functional teams sit with the client and try to define their problems and requirements. Rapid iterations and rapid prototyping are done to solve the problem,” said Sikka.

Infosys aims to train 30,000 of its employees in design thinking by the fiscal end.